It has taken a while for UK consumers to feel comfortable
buying products over the Internet. Buying holidays has become
a hit and books and CDs have always been popular, but most
people prefer to shop in the traditional way. However one product
people have become prepared to buy on-line recently is car
insurance.
One of the UK's largest car insurance groups has seen the
percentage of policies it sells over the Internet rise from
3 per cent in 2000 to 24 per cent in 2001 to 33 per cent this
year. The Admiral Group puts this increase down to the success
of its fully interactive brand, elephant.co.uk which launched
in 2000 and now has over 80,000 customers.
Head elephant with elephant.co.uk, Tanzie Oliver thinks the
company is leading the way in buying insurance on-line, she
said, "Market researcher, Mintel predicts online car insurance
market will be worth £232 million within three years.
Current trends suggest this figure is very conservative. We
believe it will be worth nearer to £300 million as more
people realise the benefits of buying on-line."
At the moment 42 per cent of the population have access to
the Internet, and it has traditionally been young people who
have used it. However this figure is rising as the over 40s
are becoming Internet-savvy. They realise that products are
cheaper when bought on-line and it is convenient to shop at
home, whenever you want. Car insurance is the perfect on-line
purchase; you can shop around, compare prices and make changes
to your policy. Most on-line insurers, including elephant.co.uk
also have a telephone line for those who want the reassurance
of a voice.
So who is buying their insurance on-line at the moment? elephant.co.uk
have studied the Admiral Group database to see the age groups
and locations of their customers who have bought over the Internet
in the last year. Perhaps not surprisingly, the 25 - 34 year
olds are the most likely. 36 per cent of them bought their
insurance on-line last year, whereas only 24 per cent of the
over 45s did so.
The Scots lead the way in on-line buying, 36 per cent of them
did it last year, with the people of Edinburgh at the top of
the pile. Nearly 40 per cent of elephant.co.uk's Edinburgh
customers bought their insurance over the Internet. Londoners
also like buying on-line, 34 per cent of them did so in 2001.
The least likely to buy on-line are the Welsh. Only 26 per
cent of them bought their insurance this way last year.
Tanzie Oliver, said, "The Scots are by far the most likely
of us to turn to the Internet when buying insurance, and I
think they are setting a trend. Nobody enjoys shopping round
for insurance, but the convenience of being able to do it whenever,
wherever you want combined with the cheaper prices because
of the lower overheads makes buying on-line the best option."
Issue date: 30-07-02 |
